Elaborate Lives
by danrdarrenc
Summary: Three scenes between Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy. Slash. Inspired by three songs from the show "Aida".
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

It was nearing midnight on the first of June and Harry Potter walked hidden beneath his Invisibility Cloak through the corridors of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He was heading towards the Astronomy Tower to meet his lover. He was still, after almost a year, confused at how and when they had fallen in love; for years they had cursed and hexed each other every chance they got. The feelings were unusual, unexpected, and frightening, but all was right when they were together, like they were the only two people in the world and they could face anything that came their way.

Harry approached the top of the tower as midnight struck. Once over the threshold he pulled off the cloak and waited for his lover to appear. Less than a minute later the door opened and Draco Malfoy walked onto the tower.

"Hi," Draco said.

"Hi," Harry said, smiling.

"Did anyone see you?" Draco asked. It was the same question they asked each other at the beginning of every meeting. It was essential for them both that their relationship remained a secret.

"No. I used my cloak. You?"

"I don't think so," Draco said, sitting down upon the couch that he conjured.

"That's good," said Harry, sitting down next to Draco.

"What are we doing, Draco?" Harry asked. He wanted to be here with Malfoy more than anything in the world, but it was a dangerous path for them to take.

Draco smiled slightly when Harry used his first name. Even after a year, it still sounded as beautiful as it had the first time Harry had spoken his name.

"I don't know, Harry," Draco said, looking into Harry's eyes and relishing the sound and feel of Harry's name on his tongue. "But I do know that I want this. I just never realized it. All those years of fighting were never because I hated you, but because I wanted you to like me. I understand that now. I just wish I had understood that sooner. We could have had so much more than a year."

"Yeah." Harry sighed. "I just wish that this didn't have to be a secret. I want to be out in the world. I want to be proud to be your boyfriend. But if anyone were to find out about this….it could be dangerous. Your father and Voldemort would kill us both," Harry said, concerned.

"Like Voldemort doesn't want to kill me anyway," Draco said quietly, standing up and walking over to the edge of the tower.

Slowly, Harry walked over to Draco and wrapped his arms around Draco's waist.

"Sooner or later he's going to kill us all, Draco," Harry said.

"Unless you do something about it."

"I can't defeat him by myself. The only reason I've stayed alive all these years is because Voldemort's too afraid of Dumbledore to attack me under his nose."

Draco tensed in Harry's arms.

"Dumbledore won't always be around," Draco said.

"I know that. Which is exactly why Voldemort is going to end up killing us all," Harry said, resting his chin on Draco's shoulder.

"You know what? Let's stop talking about this," Draco said.

"You're right. Tonight it's just the two of us. Let's not spoil it with Voldemort talk," Harry said.

Draco sighed, disentangled himself from Harry's arms, and walked back to the couch.

"I wish this could be easier."

"What?"

"This. Everything. Life.

"We all lead such elaborate lives,

"Wild ambitions in our sights,

"How an affair of the heart survives,

"Days apart and hurried nights,

"Seems quite unbelievable to me,

"I don't want to live like that,

"Seems quite unbelievable to me,

"I don't want to love like that,

"I just want our time to be slower and gentler, wiser, free,

"We all live in extravagant times,

"Playing games we can't all win,

"Unintended emotional crimes,

"Take some out, take others in,

"I'm so tired of all we're going through,

"I don't want to live like that,

"I'm so tired of all we're going through,

"I don't want to love like that,

"I just want to be with you now and forever, peaceful, true,

"This may not be the moment,

"To tell you face to face,

"But I could wait forever,

"For the perfect time and place."

Harry walked over to the couch and took Draco's hands in his and looked him in the eyes. Draco placed his head on Harry's shoulder and Harry kissed the top of Draco's head.

Together they said:

"We all lead such elaborate lives,

"We don't know whose words are true,

"Strangers, lovers, husbands, wives,

"Hard to know whose loving who."

A tone of sadness in his voice, Harry said:

"Too many choices tear us apart,

"I don't want to live like that,"

Draco lifted his head off of Harry's shoulder, looked him in the eyes, and said:

"Too many choices tear us apart,

"I don't want to love like that."

Together, very quietly, as their mouths moved towards each other, they said:

"I just want to touch your heart, may this confession be the start."

Harry's and Draco's lips met in a kiss that erased all thoughts of Voldemort and a dangerous world. The knowledge that the relationship was forbidden and could not last forever made both boys eager to show the other how much love they shared and how much they both wished that no one in the world existed but they two.

As dawn approached the two lovers awoke in each other's arms, having spent the night on the rooftop together.

Harry and Draco smiled at each other and shared a gentle kiss. Without speaking they stood up and Draco Vanished the couch that he had conjured five hours previously. All that had happened between the two of them, both over the years and in the past few hours, needed no explanation. They both knew they would have to keep their pretenses up during the school hours as usual, no matter how much it pained them and how increasingly harder it became to do so.

"Shall we head back to our dorms?" Harry asked, picking up the invisibility cloak and draping it over his shoulders leaving only his head visible.

"Yes," Draco said, smiling at the oddness of seeing only Harry's head. "Meet back here same place tonight?"

"Yes. But we have to start varying our nights. Someone is going to figure out soon that we are meeting here on the same night at the same time and then we'll be busted. And we don't want Filch or his cat on our cases either," Harry said, head floating eerily toward Draco.

"You're right," Draco said, kissing Harry.

Together they walked down the stairs of the Astronomy Tower.

They continued to meet each other in secret at the topmost tower of Hogwarts, unaware that in only a few weeks time they would both be there again for a very different reason.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

It was two in the morning on the eighteenth of June and Harry Potter walked as briskly as he dared, so that the ends of his invisibility cloak did not rustle and reveal his whereabouts. It was essential tonight more than ever before that he get to the Astronomy Tower undetected. Within ten minutes of leaving the Gryffindor common room, Harry was on the tower top. He flung off the invisibility cloak as his heart clenched in panic at the sight of the empty landing. Just as Harry began to pace, the door banged open and Draco walked through, carrying a Hand of Glory clenched around a candle. Harry stopped dead in his tracks, simultaneously gasped and sighed in relief, ran to his boyfriend, and embraced him.

"Dray! Thank God you're okay!" Harry said. He released himself from Draco's arms and kissed him.

After a few seconds, Draco broke the contact and pulled away from Harry. He walked to the edge of tower, vanished his Hand of Glory, and looked out at the night sky.

"You know, I never would have thought that this tower could have such bad memories for me," Draco said, still looking out at the grounds of Hogwarts. Harry knew he was undoubtedly talking about the events that had happened only hours before: Draco's smuggling of Death Eaters into the castle, the battle between the Death Eaters and the Order of the Phoenix, Draco's conversation with a weakened Dumbledore in which he had considered joining the Order, and, ultimately, Dumbledore's death at the hands of Professor Snape.

"But it has so many more good memories," Harry said, walking over to Draco, wrapping his arms around his waist, and resting his chin on his shoulder.

"I know. But the bad ones always seem to come to mind more easily. I wish I had taken Dumbledore's offer," Draco turned around, but remained in Harry's arms, while placing his own around Harry. "Then I could be with you." Draco closed his eyes and placed his forehead to Harry's.

Harry instinctively knew what he had to do. "No," Harry said, eyes still closed.

Draco opened his eyes. "No?"

"No." Harry, too, opened his eyes and looked at Draco.

"I am here to tell you we can never meet again,

"Simple really, isn't it?

"A word or two and then,

"A lifetime of not knowing where or how or why or when,

"You think of me, or speak of me,

"And wonder what befell,

"That someone you once loved, so long ago, so well."

Draco wiped away the lone tear that fell down Harry's cheek and kissed the top of his forehead.

He then said,

"Never wonder what I'll feel,

"As living shuffles by,

"You don't have to ask me and I need not reply,

"Every moment of my life from now until I die,

"I will think or dream of you,

"And fail to understand,

"How a perfect love could be confounded out of hand."

Draco turned around in Harry's arms and faced the grounds again, saying,

"Is it written in the stars?

"Are we paying for some crime?

"Is that all that we are good for?

"Just some stretch of mortal time?

"Or some God's experiment in which we have no say?

"In which we're given paradise but only for a day?"

Draco sighed in sadness. Harry kissed his neck.

"As great as you coming away with me to the Order sounds, you'll be safer if you go to Voldemort," Harry said, holding Draco a little tighter. "You won't be a target of the Death Eaters."

"Just you," Draco said with a hint of a laugh.

"Yeah. Just me," Harry said, smiling at Draco's joke. "I mean it, Dray, you have to go to Voldemort. I'll be able to hunt for his Horcruxes more easily knowing that the person I love most in the world is one of the few people not on Voldemort's death list."

Draco leaned into Harry's arms as Harry said,

"Nothing can be altered,

"There is nothing to decide,

"No escape, no change of heart,

"Nor any place to hide."

Draco turned to face Harry. He cupped Harry's face in his hands and said,

"You are all I ever want,

"But this I am denied,

"Sometimes in my darkest thoughts,

"I wish I'd never learned,

"What it is to be in love and have that love returned."

Harry kissed Draco. He then pulled away and said,

"Is it written in the stars?

"Are we paying for some crime?

"Is that all that we are good for?

"Just some stretch of mortal time?

"Or some God's experiment in which we have no say?

"In which we're given paradise but only for a day?"

Draco kissed Harry just as Harry finished his sentence. The kiss lasted no more than a minute but it was heartfelt and full of meaning. They both knew that it would be the last kiss they shared in a long time and they wanted to make it last and one that they would remember for a lifetime.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

It was a eleven thirty at night on the twenty-third of May and an Invisibility-cloaked Harry Potter walked for the first time in a year up the stairs to the Astronomy Tower. He did not know if Draco would be there; he had not communicated to him to meet and he was unsure if Draco would be able to get away from the Death Eaters unnoticed. When Harry opened the door to the landing, however, Draco was there waiting.

Draco turned around at the sound of the door opening. When he saw no one he whispered, "Harry, is that you?"

"Yeah," Harry answered, as he pulled off the cloak.

Draco sighed in relief and ran to hug Harry.

"Are you sure the Fiendfyre didn't hurt you?" Harry asked, still in Draco's arms.

"Yes."

"Sorry Ron punched you," Harry said, looking at Draco and smiling. He touched the spot where Draco's lip had dried blood and was swollen.

"It's fine," Draco said, smiling and wincing in pain simultaneously while taking Harry's hand in his own.

"You know why I'm here, don't you, Dray?" Harry said, smile gone and voice serious.

"I heard the Dar – Voldemort's speech. Please don't go," Draco pleaded.

"I must. Everyone will die if I don't. I could never live with myself if I don't go."

"He'll kill you," Draco said quietly trying to control his voice, but failing.

"I know," Harry said, sadness in his eyes as he looked at the love of his life.

Draco closed his eyes and pressed his forehead to Harry's.

Eyes closed and head to Draco's Harry said,

"We all lead such elaborate lives,

"Wild ambitions in our sights,

"How an affair of the heart survives,

"Days apart and hurried nights,

"Seems quite unbelievable to me,

"I don't want to live like that,

"Seems quite unbelievable to me,

"I don't want to love like that,

"I just want our time to be slower and gentler, wiser, free,

"We all live in extravagant times,

"Playing games we can't all win,

"Unintended emotional crimes,

"Take some out, take others in,

"Too many choices tear us apart,

"I don't want to live like that,

"Too many choices tear us apart,

"I don't want to love like that,

"I just want to keep your heart, may this confession be the start."

Harry opened his eyes and looked at Draco; he, too, had opened his eyes.

Harry's voice wavered as he said,

"I know you'll give me courage,

"To face what I must face,

"With all these complications,

"In another time and place."

Harry turned around in Draco's arms and faced the edge of the landing. He looked out onto the grounds of Hogwarts and towards the Forbidden Forest into which he would walk to meet Voldemort.

Together Harry and Draco said,

"We all lead such elaborate lives,

"We don't know whose words are true,

"An affair of the heart survives,

"All the pain this world can do."

Draco leaned his head against Harry's as he said,

"I'm so tired of all we're going through,

"I don't want to live like that."

Harry sighed, closed his eyes, and said,

"I'm so tired of all we're going through,

"I don't want to love like that,

"I just want to be with you, now and forever, peaceful, true."

Harry turned to face Draco. He looked him in the eyes for a second before capturing Draco's lips with his own. Harry felt the world vanish around him as he kissed Draco; there had been no battle in the halls of Hogwarts; there was no thought of the dead lying in the Great Hall; no thought of the Weasleys' pain at the loss of Fred; no thought of the now-orphaned Teddy Lupin; no thought of the memories Snape had given Harry to see; no thought and no fear of the walk Harry must make; no thought of Voldemort. There was no one in the world but they two, and neither wanted that to change.

But it had to.

With only ten minutes left before Voldemort's deadline ran out and the battle recommenced, Harry broke the contact. He pulled away from Draco, but Draco grabbed his hands and held him fast. Harry looked into Draco's eyes and saw all of his own fear, sadness, and pain reflected there.

"Never forget me, Dray, or the love we shared. But promise me that you will love again and live a long and happy life," Harry asked.

Draco opened his mouth to answer but no words came out.

"Please, Dray! Promise me!"

"I promise," Draco said.

"I will always love you," Harry said, turning towards the door. He placed the invisibility cloak over him.

"I will always love you, too," Draco whispered, as he watched the love of his life disappear into midair and walk through the door, leaving him standing where he had spent the best days of his life.

4


End file.
